Jolleystick

We know them, oddly enough, as "Devilsticks." The Devilstick is a juggling kind of toy, easier, at first, than juggling with balls, and lending itself to complexities of prestidigital cleverness that are nothing short of devilish. It is a thing with many potentially jolly consequences: watching a master perform, playing with these sticks and developing your mastery over them, playing with someone else who is as good or perhaps even better than you.

Which brings us to an actual sport based on these Devilsticks. A sport called "Jolleystick" - an appellation which I find far more intriguing. To think that all one needs do to transform the Devil, stick-wise, into a source of health-giving Jolleyness (also of the stickly kind) is make a game out of it.

The sport of Jolleystick is "...like volley ball or volley club, but played with a devilstick. In jolleystick a devilstick is played backwards and forwards across a net into your opponent's end of the court. It's a one-on-one game. The devilstick is played with one handstick. The name is an amalgamation of juggling, volleyball and devilstick. It's a fascinating game in which both players must at least be able to do propeller throws."

There is a lesson to be learned here about the transforming power of games. I am not sure, however, exactly what it is. But I do find myself oddly reassured to learn that, in the proper hands with the proper skill, even the Devil becomes a plaything.